Hydraulic excavator



NOV. 8, 1955 COSENZA 2,722,759

HYDRAULIC EXCAVATOR Filed Dec. 9', 1949 INVENTOR. f/wmmw [mp BY jaw: fir/-m/ Unite States Patent HYDRAULIC EXCAVATOR Francesco Cosenza, Naples,Italy Application December 9, 1949, Serial-No; 132,094 Claims priority,application Italy December 11, 1948 2 Claims. (Cl. 37-66) The presentinvention relates to important novel features in subaqueous excavators,particularly in those intended to be. used in connection with theconservation of sea-ways and sea-coasts.

The two groups of subaqueous excavators, more commonly used, are quitedifferent from each other, this difference: being directly dependingupon the nature of the materials to be removed: the flushing. or suctiondredgers serve the purpose of removing mud, clayish compositions, sandymire and! the like, and are characterized by the simplicity of the unit,the very good efficiency. and the possibility of being attended tosatisfactorily; on the contrary,.the bucket dredgers, of which.

a larger use is made owing to their possibility of. treating materialsof a more'compact nature, losein efficiency as they approach the sphereof suction dredgers, since only a single digging and conveying apparatusis provided and, consequently, they have the disadvantage of presentinga great number of movable parts, which is rendered still worse throughthe high prime cost, through the great consumption of energy and throughconsiderable wear.

In order to join together the advantages of these two types and to doaway with the drawbacks due to the diversity of the materials to betreated, a subaqueous excavator has been devised, capable of beingadjusted to the nature of the materials to be removed, and in which thevery strong digging apparatus is independent. from the devices forconveying the materials to. the discharging place, it being possible toobtain said conveyance in two separate, but simultaneous manners, priorto an automatic selection of the material removable through suction.

An excavating apparatus according to the present invention mainlycomprises: supporting means; a hollow drum supported on the supportingmeans rotatable about a horizontal axis and having a cylindricalperforated wall provided with a plurality of holes and constituting asieve; a plurality of dredging bucket means fixed on the cylindricalwall outwardly projecting therefrom and having digging edges adapted toscoop material in the dredging bucket means when the same move upwardlyand forwardly during rotation of the hollow drum, the interior of thedredging bucket means communicating through the perforated cylindricalwall with the interior of the hollow drum; drive means rotating thedrum; suction means mounted on the supporting means and including pipemeans having one end thereof located in the interior of the hollow drumand having the other end thereof located at a level higher than thelevel of the drum, the one end of the pipe means having a stationarysuction opening bounded by two opposite edges extending in axialdirection of the drum and by two opposite arcuate edges, the edges beingclosely spaced from the inner surface of the perforated wall so that thesuction opening covers the upwardly and forwardly moving segment of thedrum so as to suck fine submerged material scooped up by the upwardlyand forwardly moving dredging bucket means through the perforatedcylindrical wall ice and into the pipe means for being conveyed to thehigher level; and inclined conveyor means having a higher end portionlocated at the higher level, and a lower end portion located underdredging buckets moving downwardly during rotation of. the drum so thatcoarse material collected in the dredging buckets drops onto the lowerend portion of, the conveyor means, the conveyor means moving upwardlyto the higher leveland being adapted to convey coarse material depositedon the lower end portionrthereofto the higher level.

A way of carrying into effect the object of the present invention isshown, by way of example, in a form of embodiment represented in theannexed drawing, in which:

Fig. 1- shows a side elevation of the whole unit, while Fig. 2 is atopplan view, partly in section of the digging and selecting apparatus.

The unit is built up and works as follows:

The shaft 14, Fig. 2, suitably driven by the engine located; in the hull12-, is arranged in one of the longitudinal' supporting. members 15which are mounted on the floating member 1 2 of the digging apparatuspivotally aboutra horizontal axis. The drum 1 is, by means of spur gearsprovided in the water tight chamber, caused to rotate'aroun'd a-pin 13integral with the longitudinal member'1'5; The outer cylindrical wall 4-of. said drum 1 is perforated and constitutes asieve and upon this wallare fastened a' suitablemumber of changeable buckets 2. The materialforming'tlie; bottom to be dredged is scooped-up and disintegrated bythe edges of the buckets 2 and in this condition. it undergoes theflushing action produced by the: water: sucked. up-bythe pump 9 throughthe pipe 8 and the. funnel: 3. The small pieces of the material passthrough the sieve 4 and into the suction orifice of the funnel 3, thenthey are sucked through the pipe 8 which isv mounted? on the floatingmember 12 pivotally about a horizontal. axis into the pump 9 and fromthere they-are caused to' flowthrough the pipe Ill-into the container11', or theyaredischarged outside.

lniorder-to' flush thefilled: buckets containing scoopedup material andlocated on the upwardly and forwardly moving segment. of the drum 4,,the suction opening of funneli 3 has a. shape corresponding to thecontour of the inner drum' surface. The suction opening has two oppositeedges extending in axial direction of the drum 1:and:two:opposite'arcuateedges 3'. The edges of the suction openingareclosely spaced from the inner surface ofa the perforatedrwall 4- so thata stream of water passes through the filled buckets and flushes finematerial out of the same into the pipe 8.

The coarse portion remains in the buckets 2 and, owing to the rotarymotion, it is caused to drop through the hopper 5 down upon theconveying band 7; a shaking grate 6, which, if necessary, may beinterposed, will prevent the direct dropping down of big stones upon theband conveyor. The speed of the conveyor may be mechanically controlledin such a way as to regularly convey into the container 11 the whole ofthe residual part of material.

By varying the peripheral speed and the penetrating power of the diggingtool it will obviously be possible to reach the most suitablesubdivision of the material in each specific case, and the variation ofthe speed of the pump and of that of the band conveyor, Within thelimits allowed, will from time to time permit of a high efficiency beingachieved.

The band conveyor is preferably made of metal, and in order to be ableto work with inclinations near the limiting angle of the sliding actionof the material, said band will be provided with transversal projections16 which give the material a terrace-like arrangement.

The simplicity of the unit and the ease of performing the severaloperations may also otter the convenience of Patented Nov. 8-, 1955saving expensive labour by assigning appropriate housings in the hull tothe dredged material, which will then be conveyed to the dischargingplace by the means existing on board.

What I claim is:

1. An excavating apparatus comprising, in combination, supporting meansincluding a floating member and a supporting arm mounted thereon anddownwardly extending from the higher level of said floatingmember to alower level; a hollow drum supported on the lower end of said supportingarm at said lower level, said hollow drum being rotatable about ahorizontal axis and having a cylindrical perforated wall provided with aplurality of holes and constituting a sieve; a plurality of dredgingbucket means fixed on said cylindrical wall outwardly projectingtherefrom and having digging edges adapted to scoop material in saiddredging bucket means when the same move upwardly and forwardly duringrotation of said hollow drum, the interior of said dredging bucket meanscommunicating through said perforated cylindrical wall with the interiorof said hollow drum; drive means rotating said drum; suction meansmounted on said supporting means and including pipe means having one endthereof located in said interior of said hollow drum and having theother end thereof located at said higher level; a funnel shaped membersecured to said one end of said pipe means and being located underneaththe axis of rotation of said drum and forwardly in the having acylindrical perforated wall provided with a plurality of holes andconstituting a sieve; a plurality of dredging bucket means fixed on saidcylindrical wall outwardly projecting therefrom and having digging edgesadapted to scoop material in said dredging bucket means when the samemove upwardly and forwardly during rotation of said hollow drum, theinterior of said dredging bucket means communicating through saidperforated cylindrical wall with the interior of said hollow drum; drivemeans rotating said drum; suction means mounted on said supportingmeans'and including pipe means having one end thereof located in saidinterior of said hollow drum and having the other end thereof located ata level higher than the level of said drum, said one end of said pipemeans having a stationary suction opening bounded by two opposite edgesextending in axial direction of said drum and by two opposite arcuateedges, said edges being closely spaced from the inner surface of saidperforated wall so that said suction opening covers the upwardly andforwardly moving segment of said drum so as to suck fine submergedmaterial scooped up by said upwardly and forwardly moving dredgingbucket means through said perforated cylindrical wall and into said pipemeans for being conveyed to said higher level;

direction of rotation of the same, said funnel shaped forated wall sothat said suction opening covers the upwardly and forwardly movingsegment of said drum so to suck fine submerged material scooped up bysaid upwardly and forwardly moving dredging bucket means through saidperforated cylindrical wall and into said pipe means for being conveyedto said higher level; and K inclined conveyor means having a higher endportion located at said higher level, and a lower end portion 10- eatedunder dredging buckets moving downwardly during rotation of said drum sothat coarse material collected in said dredging buckets drops onto thelower end portion of said conveyor means, said conveyor means movingupwardly to said higher level and being adapted to convey coarsematerial deposited on said lower end portion thereof to said higherlevel.

2. An excavating apparatus comprising, in combination, supporting means;a hollow drum supported on said supporting means rotatable about ahorizontal axis and and inclined conveyor means having a higher endportion located at said higher level, and a lower end portion locatedunder dredging buckets moving downwardly during rotation of said drum sothat coarse material collected in said dredging buckets drops onto thelower end portion of said conveyor means, said conveyor means movingupwardly to said higher level and being adapted to convey coarsematerial deposited on said lower end portion thereof to said higherlevel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS748,804 Smyth et al. Ian. 5, 1904 903,210 Lkievicz Nov. 10, 19081,070,991 Schetzel Aug. 19, 1913 1,160,533 Schilling Nov. 16, 19151,346,679 Pratt July 13, 1920 1,426,616 Swintek Aug. 22, 1922 1,701,430Thurston Feb. 5, 1929 1,763,769 Fischer June 17, 1930 1,777,575 PenneyOct. 7, 1930 2,023,686 Kertzman Dec. 10, 1935 2,386,295 Daniels Oct. 9,1945 FOREIGN PATENTS 58,140 Denmark Oct. 21, 1940

